Showtime Developing Reboot of Spike Lee's 'She's Gotta Have It'

Over a quarter century later, Spike Lee is looking to bring back his debut feature film to the small screen.

Showtime has put into development a half-hour series adaptation of Lee’s explosive 1986 indie film ‘She’s Gotta Have It,’ as first reported by Deadline. Lee is in line to see his project through as writer and director, should a pilot be ordered.

It will be a contemporary update, as the series will express Lee’s views on sexuality, race, gender, relationships, as well as gentrification in Brooklyn. The project is viewed as a comedy, but as Showtime often proceeds, the series is likely to balance the comedic with the dramatic.

Across 12 days in the summer of 1985, Lee shot ‘She’s Gotta Have It’ on a budget of $175,000 (it stands to reason he will have plenty more time, money, and resources this time around). The sexually-charged film stars Tracy Camilla Johns as a young and headstrong Brooklynite named Nola Darling, a woman who balances a life that involves three male suitors (Lee, Tommy Redmond Hicks and John Canada Terrell).

All three of the men in her life wanted Nola to commit to them, while Nola herself refused to be subject to a single partner.

The filmed grossed over $7 million and earned Lee an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature as well as an accolade from the Cannes Film Festival. You can check out the trailer below.